Protesters carry placards outside an Apple store in Boston in support of the firm’s battle with the FBI, in February 2016.
Photograph: Steven Senne/AP

Apple is closing a security gap that allowed outsiders to obtain personal information from locked iPhones without a password, a change that will thwart law enforcement agencies that have been exploiting the vulnerability to collect evidence in criminal investigations.

The loophole will be shut in a forthcoming update to Apple’s iOS software, which powers iPhones.

Once fixed, iPhones will no longer be vulnerable to intrusion via the Lightning port used to transfer data and to charge the devices. The port will still function after the update, but will shut off data an hour after a phone is locked if the correct password is not entered.

The flaw has provided a point of entry for authorities across the US since the FBI paid an unidentified third party in 2016 to unlock an iPhone used by a mass killer in the San Bernardino shooting months earlier.

Apple v the FBI: what's the beef, how did we get here and what's at stake?

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The FBI sought outside help after Apple rebuffed the agency’s efforts to get it to create a security backdoor for iPhones.

Apple’s refusal to cooperate with the FBI at the time prompted apolitical row, with some saying it pitted the rights of its customers against the broader interests of public safety.

During Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he criticised Apple for denying the FBI access to the San Bernardino killer’s locked iPhone.

On Wednesday, Apple framed its decision to further tighten iPhone security as part of its crusade to protect the highly personal information that its customers store on their phones.

The company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, has hailed privacy as a “fundamental” right and skewered both Facebook and one of Apple’s biggest rivals, Google, for vacuuming vast amounts of personal information about users of their free services to sell advertising based on their interests.

During Apple’s battle with the FBI in 2016, Cook called the bureau’s efforts to make the company alter its software a “dangerous precedent”.

“We’re constantly strengthening the security protections in every Apple product to help customers defend against hackers, identity thieves and intrusions into their personal data,” Apple said. “We have the greatest respect for law enforcement, and we don’t design our security improvements to frustrate their efforts to do their jobs.”

Timeline

Tim Cook's rise to the top of Apple

The chief executive of Apple is responsible for guiding the US technology firm towards the being the first $1tn company in history.

1960

Early years

Cook was born on 1 November in Mobile, Alabama, to a docker and a pharmacy worker. He grew up in the small town of Robertsdale.

1982

University

Graduates from Auburn University in Alabama with a BSc in industrial engineering.

1982

IBM

Joins IBM as part of its personal computing business, working his way up to the position of director of North American fulfilment.

1988

Masters

Earns an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua school of business in North Carolina.

1997

Compaq

Serves as vice-president of corporate materials for the Compaq computer firm for six months.

1998

Apple

Joins Apple as senior vice-president of worldwide operations at the request of Steve Jobs, who had returned to the firm a year earlier. Credited with revolutionising Apple's supply chain, switching to contract manufacturers.

2007

Apple COO

Promoted to chief operating officer under Jobs.

2009

Apple acting CEO

Takes over as chief executive while Jobs takes a leave of absence for health reasons.

2011

Apple CEO

Takes over full-time as chief executive as Jobs takes another leave of absence. Jobs dies on 5 October 2011.

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It is unclear what took Apple so long to close an iPhone entryway that had become well-known among legal authorities and criminals.

The Israel-based company Cellebrite and the US startup Grayshift sold their services to law enforcement agencies trying to hack into locked iPhones, according to media reports.

Grayshift, founded by a former Apple engineer, markets a $15,000 (£11,000) device designed to help police exploit the security hole in the iPhone’s current software.